ge, or up into the
blue sky. As I corrected all these faults I thought that loopholes not
made under supervision might prove rather a snare.

The result was, in the way of concealment, splendid. From these pits
with our heads at ground-level we could see quite clearly out on to
the veldt beyond, either from under the thicker part of the bushes or
even through those which were close to our eyes. From the open, on the
other hand, we were quite invisible, even from 300 yards' distance,
and would have been more so had we had the whiskers of the "brethren."
It was quite evident to me that these same whiskers were a wise
provision of nature for this very purpose and part of her universal
scheme of protective mimicry.

The numerous small dongas and rifts lent themselves readily to
flanking fire, and in many places the vertical banks required no
cutting in order to give ideal protection against even artillery. In
others, the sides of the crooked waterways had to be merely scooped
out a little, or a shelf cut to stand upon.

In one of these deeper ravines two tents, which, being below
ground-level, were quite invisible, were pitched for the women and
children, and small caves cut for them in case of a bombardment. The
position extended for a length of some 150 yards on each side of the
drift along both banks of the river, and at its extremities, where an
attack was most to be feared, pits were dug down the river-banks and
across the dry river-bed. These also were concealed as well as
possible. The flanks or ends were, of course, our greatest danger, for
it was from here we might expect to be rushed, and not from the open
veldt. I was undecided for some time as to whether to clear a "field
of fire" along the river-banks or not, as I had no wish to give away
our presence by any suspicious nudity of the banks at each end of our
position. I finally decided, in order to prevent this, to clear the
scrub for as great a range as possible from the ends of the position,
everywhere below the ground-level, and also on the level ground,
except for a good fringe just on the edges of the banks. This fringe I
thought would be sufficient to hide the clearance to any one not very
close. I now blessed the man who had left us some cutting tools.
Whilst all this was being carried out, I paced out some ranges to the
north and south, and these we marked by a few empty tins placed on
ant-heaps, etc.

At dusk, when we had nearly all the pits finish